JT Compher, Jonatan Berggren, Todd McLellan Post Game Comments vs STL | Oct. 25, 2025

JT Compher, Jonatan Berggren, Todd McLellan Post Game Comments vs STL | Oct. 25, 2025

JT, obviously coming all the way back from that one. What did you see there in that third period that allowed it to come to fruition? Yeah, I mean the work started in the second period. Um I think we um you know, we talked in the locker room going into the third that we had to keep the the foot down and um you know, everyone responded. It was um every guy on the bench was up and lively and uh believed we were going to get it done. Why do you think you guys haven’t been able to generate better starts, especially coming off a road trip like you had tonight? Um, I think that it was kind of a carryover from, you know, the two games and, um, it wasn’t a good enough response. We knew, you know, it wasn’t a good feeling. It was, uh, um, definitely a carryover. Um, but Todd got into us in that second period, and we responded really well. But it’s it’s on us to respond quicker. Um, and, you know, not have two, three periods in a row. And if you’re going to have bad periods, you’re going to have bad 10-minute stretches. It’s got to flip quicker. When you scored twice there in the in the final minute and a half of the the second period and you were gaining momentum there, just what was the feeling like in the room when you were only down by one going the break? I I think just belief. We believed we could come back and do it and um we’re doing it greasy. It wasn’t um tic-tac-toe or anything. It was um going to the net and um earning goals, earning chances. And uh um you know, I can’t really think of a pretty one tonight there besides for Cats. It was um the guys going to the net and doing whatever it took to score goals. How great was it to see a guy like Driet finally get the monkey off his back, especially after so many great chances. Yeah. Um he could have eight goals right now. I mean, even the last two games it’s been postc crossbar. Uh that stick save the other night. Um I don’t think anyone in this room ever wavered the belief a cat. I don’t think he um ever wavered himself. He’s an unbelievable high-end goal scorer in this league and um you know we knew it was coming and to come in that spot um you know he he just keeps shooting and that’s what he’s good at and um you know when you’re when you’re not scoring and you’re not getting chances it’s one thing. I think he’s had you know 70 shot attempts this year so um we’re happy for him but he he earned a a cut a game three games ago. He wouldn’t have been surprised. What did Don say at that time out to you guys? Um just challenge us. Yeah, kind of leave it at that. Um, you you know it’s one out of 82, but with the way the last two games had went, you’re about to embark on a long road trip. How important was it to get this win? I think this is one we’ll lean on. Um, you know, there there’s going to be bad periods and bad stretches and we’re going to get into holes throughout the year and this is one that um, no matter the situation in the game, we’re going to believe that we can come back and get the job done. This is only the fifth time in the history of the organization they’ve come back from four goals down. What does the comeback say about this group? Um, just uh character. This is a character win. Um, it’s been something we’ve been working on and Todd’s been working on with us is being mentally strong and would have been really easy um to roll over after the last, you know, seven periods that we had had. And uh um you know, I’m pretty proud of of that. And like I said, we’re going to lean on this one down the road for sure. Come back from four down. I’m sure a pretty surreal feeling, but what does it mean to the room to have a victory like this one? Yeah, huge win. And uh feeling like like I said after they scored the fourth goal I thought uh we did a good bounce back and had a couple good shift there and got some goals. So huge uh for the locker room to have that come back and uh especially this early on the season too. It’s two goals in two games now for you. Is that going to help it kind of build your confidence moving forward here in these next couple of games especially on the road trip? Uh yeah like when you score goals it’s easier. It’s more fun. So yeah, I think that Jonathan, what’s the key for you guys to get going earlier in a game? I don’t know, just uh be ready when the puck drops. I think uh in the beginning of season we started much better. Now we have some couple bad bounds, but uh it’s a long season and uh we will definitely learn from that. Seemed that that uh we call timeout here, you were down 4 nothing that kind of change it changed the momentum. What what was said or what was like the message there on the bench? Uh yeah, couple tough words uh from Todd and uh it was welld deserved and I think that’s uh he did a good job to wake up wake up wake up us. So yeah, I think that definitely helped. How big was this win in the grand scheme of things? You’re coming off two tough road losses and going on another long trip. How was important was it just to stop the bleeding? Yeah, of course it’s uh good for a conference in into the group too. So yeah, huge win and we did it like we play our game. We didn’t chase the game. Uh we played like we want and uh it’s nice that uh it uh gets results. [Music] Todd, you’re down four. You take the timeout. What was the message to the group in that moment? That’s probably a message we’ll keep between us. Uh obviously it wasn’t, hey, we’re playing real well. Let’s uh let’s keep it up. Um, you know, sometimes those things need to be done and need to be said. Um, the night on a whole, you couldn’t be more disappointed early and more full of joy at the end. Like it it’s amazing how that game went and how it felt. Um, you know, pre-timeout, post timeout. And, uh, we again, we have to figure this thing out. We we can’t be uh a yo-yo like that. Um, I I think I believe we’re closer to the the second half team than we are to the first half, but we the proof is in the pudding. It has to show up over and over and over again. We can’t pick and choose fractions of the game or um segments of games where we want to play to our identity and then it just disappears. And um yeah, I’ll leave it at that. JT said this is a victory. uh that he thinks you guys can lean on. What do you How do you assess that? Well, I’m glad we’re the team that won. Okay. It’s that’s an incredible comeback. Um we had absolutely nothing going on. It looked like we were discombobulated all over the rink. Anything we did, we were in the wrong spot. We we checked poorly. We didn’t pick up the right people. It was, you know, it was borderline disaster. Uh, and then to to get it and come back. Um, you know, I I I agree with JT. I think you can build on it. Uh, but what part of the game do you evaluate? You know, when when you’re us as coaches or management, what which part should we really grab on to? Should we grab on to the second half or should we grab on to the sec first half and try and fix things or should we go with the second? That’s that’s the situation that the team puts the staff in right now and we’ve got to figure that out. And within the game, I mean, you you’ve talked about mental toughness quite a bit. Did you see there the sign that you want to see instead of you talked last year a lot about salting and things like that? Well, it not early. Not early. Um, you know, the second half we certainly did. You could feel uh early in the game, you could feel them take the momentum and just run with it. And then when we scored and then scored again real quick, you could feel it starting to come our way. and and I give the guys credit for for swinging it and then for holding on to it um into the third period. Todd, I mean, you’ve relied so heavily on on Dylan’s offense this year. How important was it to get other guys like Comper and and Bergen and Cop uh involved offensively? Uh very important. they um you know they played we we basically ended up playing three lines having dressed seven um the second half of the game and I I thought we got a little more rhythm there and all of a sudden those guys showed up on the on the score sheet a little bit more so uh to see cat uh finally get rewarded like guys should have seven or eight goals right now um but he finally got rewarded big goal Simon responded with a real good game um so uh Um the the response got rewarded with some offense. De Brinket had had two crossarss early in that game. To see him on the play that he finally scored on like he was shooting the whole way. Like what does that tell you about him as a as a player? Well, he’s a he’s a scorer. Um and scorers shoot the puck. He’s not going to defer and and dish it off. He knew exact He scored many goals like that already cutting across and shooting against the green. Um he knew what he was doing as soon as he began to cut. Um and and good for him he got rewarded. Um you know it’s it’s probably a weight off his shoulder certainly the the teams to see him finally get that uh because we we absolutely need his offense um you know moving forward and Gibson came up with some huge saves late a lot of times that timeout at 40 coach will pull the goalie. What made you want to stick with him and what did you think of him overall? Um well I I don’t think Gibby had a lot to do with uh the goals they scored quite frankly. Uh we did zero to help him and we didn’t consider uh pulling him. We we didn’t think there was anything it had anything to do with goalending and then after that he uh it was a strange night. He didn’t have as much work but when he got the work he made some pretty sharp saves. It’s six points now in four games for EMTT Finny. Um, what have you appreciated the most that you’ve seen from him? And did you think that this was a serious possibility when he made the team out of training camp that he’d be leading? No, I scoring. I didn’t think that. Um, you know, our thoughts were fairly realistic like we we’re going to play him. Let’s see what ends up happening. We believed in him. We certainly did. Uh, but he just continues to push the envelope. And, you know, we can talk about his points and his goals and all that type of stuff. the block shots today, the checking skills and ability that he plays with. Um there’s nothing better that a player can have than being trusted by the coaches or the the teammates and he has that right now. Good.

JT Compher, Jonatan Berggren, and Todd McLellan speak with the media following the Red Wings game against the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday October 25, 2025.